216 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



greater than any one will suppose who has 

 not tried it. Whoever starts with more 

 than one kind will sooner or later be sorry 

 for it, and I cannot urge too strongly upon 

 those who have as yet only five or ten 

 colonies to discard all but one kind of hive. 



July 10, 1 went out and found the bees 

 had been doing some swarming in their 

 own way. as I expected they would. Al- 

 though i had stopped making swarms for 

 want of hives, my wife was not to be balk- 

 ed in hiving the natural swarms that came, 

 so she fixed up all sorts of hives and yet in 

 such a way as to have frames in them, so 

 that with very little trouble I was able to 

 transfer tliem, frames and all, into hives 

 which I made. Eight or nine natural 

 swarms were thus saved, and I am afraid I 

 should not have done so well with the ma- 

 terial at hand. Three natural swarms came 

 out while I was there. In the case of one 

 of them, I waited for them to return to the 

 hive after settling, as I had seen the queen 

 but a few weeks before and her wings were 

 clipped. To my chagrin they arose in a 

 body and sailed off majestically for parts 

 unknown, leaving me an unwilling specta- 

 tor of their flight. I consoled myself with 

 the thought that before many weeks I 

 would be with them every day and then 

 they would not play me many such tricks. 

 They liad undoubtedly raised a young 

 queen, having probably swarmed some ten 

 days or two weeks previous, and their old 

 queen had been lost or killed. 



I overhauled all of the colonies taking 

 from the strong ones frames of sealed brood 

 to give to the young swarms I had started, 

 and also to the natural swarms I gave one 

 or two frames of brood each. 1 took about 

 625 lbs. of honey, nearly all extracted. 



I have been best satisfied with rotton 

 wood for smoking bees. That from maple, 

 beech or other hard wood, having the dry 

 rot, if just right, will hold fire and slowly 

 burn until all is consumed. Sometimes, 

 however, I have had no rotten wood on 

 hand and almost anything can be made to 

 do in a pinch, after a fashion. A pipe or 

 cigar is convenient for smokers but 

 I don't think I should want any to- 

 bacco about my bees, even if I were a 

 smoker. A roll of rags makes a pretty good 

 smoke. Wood which is not properly rotted, 

 and even that which is perfectly sound may 

 be made to do. Take an ash pan having 

 the bottom covered with ashes and live 

 coals and put therein two or three pieces of 

 wood with the ends well burnt having the 

 burnt ends on the coals and you will have a 

 good smoke, the only trouble being the 

 danger from sparks flying in the hive. For 

 a sudden use, where you do not care to keep 

 the fire burning, even paper will do very 

 well. Roll the paper losely together, and 

 after setting on fire, put out the blaze, and 

 for temporary purposes it does very well. 



Lately, being out of rotton wood, I have 

 been well pleased with corn cobs. Keep 

 three or four cobs burning together in an 

 asli pan with hot coals, and if the cobs have 

 been previously well seasoned or baked in 

 an oven, they will keep up a steady fire 

 without blazing. Of course different ma- 

 terials can be used in a smoker of any kind. 



A word as to the uiaiuier of blowing. A 

 continuous stream is not so good as slioi-ter 

 putts. A continuous stream makes more 

 perfect combustion, more fire but less smoke. 



If blowing with the mouth, do not empty 



the lungs, but take in full breaths, only 

 blowing out at each puff the extra quantity 

 in the lungs. This will prevent dizziness. 



B. LUNDERER. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Albino Bees. 



Being requested by many to give a des- 

 cription of the Albino bees, 1 will do so, 

 hoping by this means to remove some of the 

 prejudice formed against them. 



When first I discovered them I was sur- 

 prised and did not know to what to attri- 

 bute it. I applied to different persons for 

 information, and was advised to continue 

 breeding them until I obtained the pure 

 stock. I did so, and in my experience have 

 found them to be as I shall now attempt to 

 describe them. 



As to their markings, the difference be- 

 tween them and the pure Italians is very 

 striking. The head in color approaches 

 near to a purple. Beginning at the waist, 

 they have first three yellow bands, then 

 three white bands, all the bands being 

 very distinct. The white is not muddy and 

 dirty but pure. The wings are finer and of 

 a lighter color than those of the Italian. 

 Tlie only marking of the drone is the hair 

 around the waist being white, giving to it a 

 clean and pretty appearance. 



As to breeding, the queens are very pro- 

 lific. Pure Albino queens produce pure Al- 

 bino bees. If an Albino queen mates with 

 an Italian drone, one half of the workers 

 will be pure Albino and the other half will 

 be pure Italian. I have never seen any 

 bearing the marks of Italian and Albino 

 mixed. The markings will not be mixed as 

 in a cross between the Italian and black. 



I have found them to be better honey- 

 gatherers and more gentle than any other 

 race of bees I ever possessed. 



Smithsburg, Md. D. A. Pike. 



» — ■ ^ . — . 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Notes from Southern Indiana. 



Our honey season just closing has been 

 unusually good. Generally, we nave to de- 

 pend on the poplar for our main supply of 

 surolus honey, but this year we have had in 

 addition to the poplar an luiprecedeuted 

 amount of white clover. Its white bloom 

 seemed to be everywhere— along the wood 

 side, in the old pastures, in the meadows, 

 in the lawns— wherever it could crowd up 

 its head. The very breezes were laden 

 with its fragrance. The bees were literally 

 "in clover,'' and right well they seemed to 

 enjoy it. 



I have nearly all my bees in two-story 

 Langstroth hives. Heretofore I have been 

 able to keep them from swarming in those 

 hives; perhai)s I could have done so this 

 season if 1 had kept the honey closely 

 thrown out. But this I could not do, and 

 the bees got tlu; start of me. Before I sus- 

 pected it, I had several exceedingly large 

 swarms — some of them Avould have well 

 filled a half bushel nu^asure. Although 

 these were the first swarms I had had for 

 six or seven years, I had no trouble in find- 

 ing them comfortable luunes. 



The houi'y is of an excellent quality — 

 thick and of superior flavor. I am not try- 

 ing to sell any of it; I find a very good de- 

 mand lor it at my own table. What I can't 



